Stamped wheel balancing weight

ABSTRACT

A wheel-balancing weight mounts to a wheel with a flange. The weight includes a body and a clip. The body is stamped by a punch to define a pocket within which an attaching portion of the clip resides. The defined pocket has a planar base and opposing side walls generally perpendicular to the base. The body as stamped by the punch includes a pre-stake for each side wall external to the pocket and adjacent the side wall, and an undercut for each side wall within the pocket and generally located at a juncture of the side wall and the base.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Pat.Application No. 61/579,108, filed on Dec. 22, 2011, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a wheel-balancing weight for balancinga wheel of a vehicle or the like. More particularly, the presentdisclosure relates to a wheel balancing weight with a body stamped froma dimensioned wire rather than a machined body.

DISCLOSURE

In the manufacture of pneumatic tires and also wheels and rims forpneumatic tires, it is exceedingly difficult if not impossible toproduce a tire, a wheel, or the combination thereof in perfectrotational balance. As known, when out of balance, such a tire, wheel,or combination thereof, vibrates excessively upon rotation and can causedamage to adjacent, coupled-to and/or related components. Moreover, whenthe tire and wheel are coupled to a moving vehicle such as a passengercar, the vibration can be uncomfortable to an occupant.

Accordingly, and as is known, such tire, wheel, or combination thereofis balanced by appropriately applying one or more counter-balancingweights to compensate for a measured imbalance. Wheel balancing weightsare known, and are for example discussed in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos.6,553,831, 7,216,938, 7,249,804, and 7,841669, hereby incorporated byreference in their entirety, among others. Typically, although by nomeans absolute, in the case where a tire is mounted to a wheel of avehicle, the wheel includes a circumferential flange or lip at a rim oneither axial side thereof and a weight of appropriate mass is applied ateach flange at an appropriate circumferential location thereof. Methodsof measuring imbalance and determining where to apply thecounter-balancing weights are generally known to the relevant public andtherefore need not be described herein.

In at least some instances, such a counter-balancing weight for avehicle has been constructed to have a body forming the majority of themass of the weight and a clip by which the body is secured to the flangeof a wheel, where the clip is attached to the body by any of severalattaching mechanisms. For example, the clip may be swaged to a face ofthe body or affixed to a face of the body by way of one or more screws,rivets, expansion bolts, or the like. At present, it is typical that thebody is formed from a metal material such as zinc or steel or the like,where the body is at least partially machined. In particular, it istypical that the body includes a formed pocket within which a portion ofthe clip is fitted and then secured to the body to form the weight,where the formed pocket is cut into the body by one or more appropriatecutting, routing, or abrading tools or the like.

Notably, such cutting, routing, abrading, and other machining imparts asubstantial amount of detail and complexity into the construction of thebody and the weight overall. Accordingly, a need exists for awheel-balancing weight with a clip and a body that is formed without theneed for such cutting, routing, abrading, and other machining. Moreparticularly, a need exists for such a wheel-balancing weight where thepocket of the body is formed from a stamping process and therefore isless costly to produce.

DRAWINGS

The present innovation will be better understood when read inconjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustratingthe various embodiments of the invention, there are shown in thedrawings embodiments that are presently preferred. As should beunderstood, however, the invention is not limited to the precisearrangements and instrumentalities shown. In the drawings:

FIGS. 1A-1C show a wheel-balancing weight with a stamped body inaccordance with various embodiments of the present innovation, and inparticular show a side-elevational view of a body of the weight only(FIG. 1A), a similar side elevational view of the weight with a clipattached to the body (FIG. 1B), and a cross-sectional view taken alongthe line 1C-1C in FIG. 1B (FIG. 1C);

FIGS. 2A-2D progressively show a punch stamping the body of the weightof FIG. 1 in accordance with various embodiments of the presentinnovation;

FIG. 3 shows a portion of the stamped body of FIG. 2 in accordance withvarious embodiments of the present innovation, where the punch imparts apre-stake and an undercut to assist in forming a generally vertical orperpendicular side wall to a pocket of the body;

FIG. 4 shows a top view of the body and a portion of the clip of theweight of FIGS. 1A-1C; and

FIG. 5 shows a top view of a weight similar to that of FIGS. 1A-1C inaccordance with alternate embodiments of the present innovation.

DESCRIPTION

Certain terminology may be used in the following description forconvenience only and is not considered to be limiting. For example, thewords “left”, “right”, “upper”, “lower”, “top”, “bottom”, “front”, and“back” designate directions in the drawings to which reference is made.Likewise, the words “inwardly” and “outwardly” are directions toward andaway from, respectively, the geometric center of the referenced object.The terminology includes the words above specifically mentioned,derivatives thereof, and words of similar import.

As shown in FIGS. 1A-1C, a wheel balancing weight 10 for a tire or thelike includes a body 12 to impart mass and a clip 14 by which the body12 is attached to a flange on a rim of the tire. Attaching such a weight10 to such a flange by way of such a clip 14 is generally known orshould be apparent to the relevant public and therefore need not be setforth herein in any detail other than that which is provided. Suchattaching may be seen in one or more of the aforementioned U.S. Pat.Nos. 6,553,831, 7,216,938, 7,249,804, and 7,841669, which again arehereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

The clip 14 is typically although by no means necessarily a length of asheet of steel or the like with a relatively small thickness and a widthon the order of an inch or so, where the sheet has been folded or bentalong the length thereof in a predefined manner to be in a predefinedform that includes a clipping portion 19 and an attaching portion 20, asis best seen in FIGS. 1B-1C. As is to be understood, the clippingportion 19 is formed to securely grasp the flange of the tire, and theattaching portion 20 is generally planar and co-acts with the body 12 toattach the clip 14 thereto. In particular, the clip 14 may be attachedto the body 12 by positioning the attaching portion 20 thereof within apocket 16 defined in the body 12, and then securing the attachingportion 20 to the body 12 by appropriate means such as a rivet or screwor other attaching device, or by being crimped or swaged by way ofmaterial in the body 12 adjacent the sides of the pocket 16. As seen,the pocket 16 is generally a relatively shallow and relatively planardepression mainly in a side (axial) face of the body 12, and may have adepth that is not much more than the thickness of the generally planarattaching portion 20 of the clip 14.

As should be appreciated, the pocket 16 is formed in such axial face ofthe body 12 to receive the attaching portion 20 of the clip 14, and indoing so to locate the clip 14 with respect to the body 12 in arelatively exact manner. Thus, the formed pocket 16 is defined by agenerally planar base or bottom 22 against which a generally planarsurface of the attaching portion of the clip 14 resides, and left andright side walls 18 that are generally perpendicular to and generallyvertical with respect to the base 22. As may be appreciated, the sidewalls 18 tangentially locate the attaching portion 20 of the clip 14within the pocket 16 of the body 12 and thus tangentially locate theclip 14 with respect to the body 12. As seen in FIG. 1C in particular,the clipping portion 19 of the clip 14 adjacent the attaching portion 20may abut the body 12 when the clip 14 is secured to the body 12, and assuch radially locates the clip 14 with respect to the body 12.

As may be appreciated, the pocket 16 may be machined into the body 12 bycutting, routing, abrading, or other machining tools that removematerial from the body 12 to define the pocket 16, such that themachined pocket 16 has the planar base 22 and perpendicular side walls18 set forth above. Note, though, that such machining is relatively moreexpensive in terms of time required, machinery involved, and wastedmaterial, among other things. Accordingly, in various embodiments of thepresent innovation, and as seen in FIGS. 2A-2D, the pocket 16 is stampedinto the body 12 according to a predefined punch to define the pocket16, where the stamped pocket 16 has the planar base 22 and perpendicularside walls 18 set forth above. As should be appreciated, stamping thepocket 16 is advantageous as compared to machining the pocket 16inasmuch as such stamping is relatively less expensive in terms of timerequired, machinery involved, and wasted material, among other things.

In various embodiments of the present innovation, the pocket 16 of thebody 12 is stamped according to a punch or die 24 such as that seen inFIGS. 2A-2D so that the body 12 is imparted with a pre-stake 26 (alsoseen in FIG. 3) exterior to the pocket 16 but adjacent each side wall 18of the pocket 16, and an undercut 28 within the pocket 16 generally at ajuncture of each side wall 18 and the base 22 of the pocket 16. As bestseen in FIG. 3, each pre-stake 26 as imparted to the body 12 is definedas a formed ridge of material exterior to the pocket 16 but immediatelyadjacent a respective side wall 18 thereof, where the ridge closelyfollows the side wall 18 and is bordered on one side by such side wall18 and on the other side by a notch 34 formed by a cutting edge of thepunch 24. In a similar manner, each undercut 28 as imparted to the body12 is defined as a formed notch within the pocket 16 at the juncture ofa respective side wall 18 and the base 22. Each pre-stake 26 andundercut 28 may follow along the entirety of a respective side wall 18or may follow along only a portion of such respective side wall 18 ascircumstances may warrant.

As shown in FIGS. 2A-2D, it may be that the punch 24 firstly strikes thebody 12, which rests on a jig 25 or the like, to create the pocket 16therein in a manner so that the pocket 16 and undercuts 28 begin to beformed (FIG. 2A to FIG. 2B), and then continues further with such striketo further form the pocket 16 and undercuts 28 and to create thepre-stakes 26 (FIG. 2B to FIG. 2C), after which the punch 24 iswithdrawn (FIG. 2D), all in a single fluid striking motion. Notably, ithas been found that imparting the body 12 with the pre-stake 26 and theundercut 28 for each side wall 18 in combination results in impartingthe body 12 with the aforementioned generally perpendicular and/orvertical side walls 18. That is to say, without the pre-stakes 26 andundercuts 28, each side wall 18 would in effect be washed out by thestriking force of the punch 24.

With the pre-stakes 26 and the undercuts 28, however, and as should beappreciated, the washing out of each side wall 18 is prevented and/or isrectified by the force exerted by the portions of the punch 24 thatcreate each pre-stake 26 and undercut 38. In particular, a force exertedby the portion of the punch 24 that creates each pre-stake 26 movesadjacent material of the body 12 toward what becomes the respective sidewall 18, and counters a force exerted by the portion of the punch 24that creates each undercut 28 on the adjacent side wall 18 and movesadjacent material up and into formation. In combination, then, the twocountering forces result in such generally vertical and/or perpendicularadjacent side wall 18.

Note that the geometry of each pre-stake 26 and each undercut 28 ascreated by respective portions of the punch 24 may be any appropriategeometry, although empirically it has been found that acceptable resultsare achieved by the geometry shown in FIG. 3. In such geometry, eachpre-stake 26 as formed by the punch 24 of FIG. 2 is found to exhibit anotch 34 with a V-formation in cross-section, including a relativelyshallower wall proximate the adjacent side wall 18 and a relativelysteeper wall distal from the adjacent side wall 18. Similarly, eachundercut 28 as formed by the punch of FIG. 2 is found to exhibit a notchmainly in the base 22 but abutting the adjacent side wall 18. Here, thenotch of the undercut 28 may have a V-formation in cross-section, or mayhave a different formation such as a radiused curve. Likewise, the notch34 of the pre-stake 26 may alternately have a different formation too.

Returning now to FIGS. 1A-1C, and also referring now to FIG. 4, it isseen that after the body 12 is stamped by the punch 24 of FIG. 2 toinclude the pocket 16, pre-stakes 26, and undercuts 28, a clip 14 may beappropriately positioned within the stamped pocket 16 (only theattaching portion 20 of the clip being shown in FIG. 4) and then securedto the body 12 by crimping, swaging, stamping, staking, or the like.Notably, such crimping, swaging, stamping, staking, or the like may takeadvantage of the already-stamped pre-stakes 26.

In particular, and as was alluded to above, each already-stampedpre-stake 26 includes or defines a notch 34 and a ridge or region ofcrimping material interposed between such notch 34 and the adjacent sidewall 18, where the notch 34, ridge, and side wall 18 all extend alongwith each other for some length. As should be appreciated, such ridge orregion of crimping material as defined is more easily urged over anadjacent edge of the attaching portion 20 of the positioned clip 14within the pocket 16 during a crimping operation so as to secure suchclip 14 to the body 12. Also, such notch 34 tends to define a zonewithin which a staking blade on a crimping tool can strike the body 12(not shown) in order to perform such urging. Thus, and as may beappreciated from FIG. 1B in particular, after such a staking blade ofsuch a crimping tool strikes the body 12 and indeed does urge eachregion of crimping material over the attaching portion 20 of the clip 14as positioned within the pocket 16, the stamped pre-stake 26 has beenaltered to include or define a much deeper notch 34. Notably, suchcrimping by way of such staking blade is believed to require only avertical downward force on the notch 34 of the pre-stake 26, and not anangled force on the region of crimping material, and thus may beperformed in a simpler manner.

It is to be appreciated that most any appropriate equipment may beemployed to stamp the body 12 of the weight 10 by way of the punch 24.For example, the equipment to stamp the body 12 in particular mayreceive a continuous feed of unwound wire having a predefined dimension,then straighten the wire, and then impart a curvature having apredefined radius to the wire so as to match the radius of the flange onthe rim. Note here that the received wire may initially have across-sectional diameter on the order of one-quarter to one-half inch,and that the wire may also be flattened during straightening and/orcurving into a somewhat oval or elliptical cross-section so as to fitmore closely to the rim. Once curved, the wire is then fed to a coiningstation having the punch 24 of FIG. 2 such that the pocket 16 is stampedinto the curved wire. Thereafter, an appropriate length of the curvedand stamped wire may be cut off at a cut-off station so as to result ina unit of a body 12 having a predetermined mass.

Similarly, it is to be appreciated that most any appropriate equipmentmay be employed to crimp or otherwise securely attach a clip 14 to thestamped body 12 to form the weight 10. For example, the crimpingequipment may receive and appropriately position a stamped body 12 in ajig or the like, and then receive and appropriately position analready-formed clip 14 in the same jig or the like. As should beunderstood, in so doing the attaching portion 20 of the clip 14 isappropriately tangentially and radially located within the pocket 16 ofthe body 12. Thereafter, the aforementioned staking blade of a crimpingtool strikes the body 12 at each notch 34 of each pre-stake 26 to urgeeach ridge of crimping material over the attaching portion 20 of theclip 14 as positioned within the pocket 16, thereby securing the clip 14to the body 12 and forming the weight 10.

Note here that each side wall 18 of the pocket 16 as imparted to thebody 12 need not be absolutely vertical/perpendicular, but instead mayapproach such vertical/perpendicular state with respect to the base 22,without departing from the present innovation. That is to say, each sidewall 18 should be well-formed to approach such vertical/perpendicularstate, but only insofar as the side wall 18 positively tangentiallylocates the attaching portion 20 of the clip 14 within the pocket 16 ofthe body 12 without allowing the clip 14 to have more than minimal playas tangentially located. Accordingly, if the side wall 18 were to be onthe order of 15 or even 30 degrees out of true perpendicular/verticalbut still positively locates the clip 14, such side wall 18 would beacceptable.

In various embodiments, the side walls 18 of the body 12 may begenerally planar and parallel with respect to each other, such as isseen in FIG. 5. Such side walls 18 may alternately be generally planarbut angled with respect to each other, perhaps such that the pocket 16exhibits a generally trapezoidal appearance when viewed according to thetop view of FIG. 4. Such side walls 18 need not necessarily be planar,however. In one embodiment, for example, and as seen in FIG. 5, eachside wall 18 may exhibit one or more protrusions 30 that each extendalong the surface of the body 12 and toward the pocket 16, therebyreducing the area of the pocket 16. As may be appreciated, each suchprotrusion 30 may key to a corresponding indentation 32 in acorresponding side edge of the attaching portion 20 of the clip 14(partially shown in FIG. 5), and in so doing may positively radiallylocate the clip 14 within the pocket 16 of the body 12.

Note that by including such a protrusion 30 for each side wall 18 as inFIG. 5, the pre-stake 26 and undercut 28 for each side wall 18 mayrequire alteration to form the side wall 18 with such a protrusion 30.In particular, the pre-stake 26 and undercut 28 may closely follow theside wall 18 with the protrusion 30 in order to form same, as is shown,or may generally follow the side wall 18 with the protrusion 30 to formsame if such close following has not been found to be needed.

Note too that rather than including a protrusion 30 in each side wall 18and an indentation 32 in each side edge of the attaching portion 20 ofthe clip 14, the protrusions 30 and indentations 32 may be exchanged sothat an indentation 32 is in each side wall 18 and a protrusion 30 is ineach side edge of the attaching portion 20 of the clip 14. In such acase, and again, the pre-stake 26 and undercut 28 for each side wall 18may require alteration to form the side wall 18 with such an indentation32.

CONCLUSION

In the foregoing description, it can be seen that the present innovationcomprises a new and useful stamped wheel balancing weight 10 having aclip 14 and a stamped body 12 that is formed without the need forcutting, routing, abrading, and other machining. Therefore, the body 12and the weight 10 are less costly to produce. It should be appreciatedthat changes could be made to the embodiments described above withoutdeparting from the innovative concepts thereof. For one example, theform of the pocket 16 of the stamped body 12 may differ, as may the formof the pre-stakes 26 and undercuts 28. It should be understood,therefore, that this innovation is not limited to the particularembodiments disclosed, but it is intended to cover modifications withinthe spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

1. A wheel balancing weight for mounting to a wheel with a flange, theweight including a body and a clip, the body for providing apredetermined mass to the weight and the clip for securely grasping theflange to secure the weight thereto, the body being stamped at anattaching face thereof by a punch to define a pocket in the attachingface within which an attaching portion of the clip resides, the definedpocket having a planar base and opposing side walls generallyperpendicular to the base, the body also being stamped by the punch toinclude a pre-stake in the attaching face for each side wall external tothe pocket and adjacent the side wall, and an undercut for each sidewall within the pocket and generally located at a juncture of the sidewall and the base.
 2. The weight of claim 1 wherein each pre-stake isdefined in the body to include a formed ridge of material exterior tothe pocket and immediately adjacent a respective side wall thereof, theridge following the side wall and being bordered on either lateral sidethereof by such side wall and a notch formed by a cutting edge of thepunch.
 3. The weight of claim 1 wherein each pre-stake is defined in thebody to include a formed ridge of material exterior to the pocket andimmediately adjacent a respective side wall thereof, the ridge followingthe side wall and being bordered on either lateral side thereof by suchside wall and a notch formed by a cutting edge of the punch, the notchhaving a V-formation in cross-section, including a relatively shallowerwall proximate the side wall and a relatively steeper wall distal fromthe side wall.
 4. The weight of claim 1 wherein each undercut is definedas a formed notch within the pocket at a juncture of a respective sidewall and the base.
 5. The weight of claim 1 wherein each undercut isdefined as a formed notch within the pocket at a juncture of arespective side wall and the base, the notch being mainly in the basebut abutting the side wall, and having a radiused curve formation incross-section.
 6. The weight of claim 1 wherein each pre-stake andundercut follow along one of substantially all of a respective side walland only a portion of such respective side wall.
 7. The weight of claim1 wherein the punch stamping the body to define the pre-stake and theundercut for each side wall in combination results in imparting the bodywith the generally perpendicular side wall.
 8. The weight of claim 1wherein the clip is secured to the body by crimping or swaging the bodyat the pre-stakes to urge material of the body adjacent the side wallsthereof over side edges of the attaching portion of the clip as residentin the pocket.
 9. The weight of claim 1 wherein each pre-stake isdefined in the body to include a formed ridge of material exterior tothe pocket and immediately adjacent a respective side wall thereof, theridge following the side wall and being bordered on either lateral sidethereof by such side wall and a notch formed by a cutting edge of thepunch, and wherein the clip is secured to the body by crimping orswaging the body at the notches of the pre-stakes to urge the respectiveridges over side edges of the attaching portion of the clip as residentin the pocket, each notch defining a strike zone for the crimping orswaging action and thereby being enlarged after the crimping or swagingaction.
 10. The weight of claim 1 wherein each side wall is generallylinear and the side walls are generally parallel.
 11. The weight ofclaim 1 wherein each side wall is generally linear and the side wallsare angled with respect to each, the pocket being generally trapezoidal.12. The weight of claim 1 wherein each side wall includes a protrusionextending along the attaching face of the body and toward the pocket.13. The weight of claim 1 wherein each side wall includes a protrusionextending along the attaching face of the body and toward the pocket,the pre-stake and under-cut for the side wall closely following theprotrusion.
 14. The weight of claim 1 wherein each side wall includes aprotrusion extending along the attaching face of the body and toward thepocket, the attaching portion of the clip including a correspondingindentation in a corresponding side edge thereof, the protrusion keyingto the indentation and positively radially locating the clip within thepocket of the body.
 15. The weight of claim 1 wherein the attaching faceis an axial face of the body.
 16. A wheel balancing weight for mountingto a wheel with a flange, the weight including a body and a clip, thebody for providing a predetermined mass to the weight and the clip forsecurely grasping the flange to secure the weight thereto, the bodybeing stamped at an attaching face thereof by a punch to define a pocketin the attaching face within which an attaching portion of the clipresides, the defined pocket having a planar base and opposing side wallsgenerally perpendicular to the base, the body also being stamped by thepunch to include a pre-stake in the attaching face for each side wallexternal to the pocket and adjacent the side wall, and an undercut foreach side wall within the pocket and generally located at a juncture ofthe side wall and the base, each stamped pre-stake including a formedridge of material exterior to the pocket and immediately adjacent arespective side wall thereof, the ridge following the side wall andbeing bordered on either lateral side thereof by such side wall and anotch formed by a cutting edge of the punch, the body being struck ateach notch to secure the clip within the pocket, the strike at eachnotch urging the respective ridge over a side edge of the attachingportion of the clip as resident in the pocket.
 17. The weight of claim16 wherein each side wall is generally linear and the side walls aregenerally parallel.
 18. The weight of claim 16 wherein each side wallincludes a protrusion extending along the attaching face of the body andtoward the pocket.